Auger type ice making machines have conveniently been used in cooking establishments such as restaurants and the like and in applications for refrigerating fish for preservation purposes, wherein ice is formed in the form of a layer upon the inner wall of a cylindrical refrigerating casing, and this ice layer is scraped off from the refrigerating casing by means of the auger and the ice flakes so formed are transferred upwardly so as to be compressed into columnar ice which is cut to a predetermined size by means of a cutter so as to make compressed ice blocks. Since this invention relates to an improvement of the ice discharge section of the auger type ice making machine, for the purpose of easier understanding, the general construction of the auger type ice making machine will first be described with reference to FIG. 5.
Referring to an ice making mechanism 17 shown in FIG. 5, an evaporator 12 which communicates with a refrigerating system is sealingly wound along the outer periphery of the cylindrical refrigerating casing 10, and a refrigerant is circulated through the tubular body forming the evaporator coil 12 during operation such that the refrigerating casing 10 may be cooled in a heat exchange manner. Interiorly of the refrigerating case 10 there is rotatably provided the auger 14 which is vertically aligned with the axis of the casing in such a way that it is rotatably supported by means of bearings disposed at the top and the bottom. A cutting edge 14a which has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the refrigerating casing 10 is spirally formed upon the auger 14 so that the thin ice formed upon the inner wall surface of the refrigerating casing 10 in the form of a layer may be scraped off and removed by means of the cutting edge 14a and transferred upwardly. It should be noted that the reference numeral 15 designates a motor which drives the auger 14.
The extruding head 16, which may also serve as an upper bearing for the auger 14, is disposed at the top of the refrigerating casing 10 so as to compress the sherbet-state ice flakes, scraped off as a result of the rotation of the auger 14 and transferred upwardly thereby when they are allowed to pass through the compression passage bored through the extruding head 16 so as to form continuous columnar compressed ice. The columnar ice extruded out of the extruding head 16 is sequentially cut by means of a cutter 18 provided at the top of the extruding head 16 so as to be formed into ice blocks of a predetermined size.
At the top of the ice making mechanism 17 where the extruding head 16 and the cutter 18 are disposed, a duct-shaped ice discharge passage 28 is provided so as to extend horizontally into an ice storage chamber 26 so that it may discharge the compressed ice blocks of a predetermined size made within the ice making mechanism 17 into the ice storage chamber 26 via an ice discharge port 20. For example, one end 22 of the ice discharge port 20 having a flange 20a is inserted through a through hole 30a bored through a wall 30 of the ice storage chamber 26, whereas the other end 24 which includes an ice block discharge ramp 20c, is disposed within the interior of the ice storage chamber 26. The ice discharge port 20 is positioned by making the flange 20a abut against the wall 30, and the flange 20a is fixed to the wall 30 by means of a plurality of screws 32. The end portion 28a of the ice discharge passage 28 is inserted into the open duct 20b of the ice discharge port 20 whereby the ice discharge passage 28 may communicate with the ice storage chamber 26 via the ice discharge port 20.
Incidentally, an agitator which agitates the stored ice and an ice conveying mechanism which carries the compressed ice to the exterior of the machine (neither of which is shown) are disposed within the ice storage chamber 26 as necessary.
In general, in the auger type ice making machine the ice flakes scraped from the inner wall surface of the refrigerating casing 10 by means of the cutting edge 14a of the auger 14 are forcibly compressed when they pass through the compression passage of the extruding head 16 in their sherbet-state, and during this process water is inevitably formed. This water is discharged into the ice storage chamber 26 in the state where it clings to the compressed ice. Furthermore, part of the water clinging to the compressed ice will collect upon the bottom surface of the ice discharge passage 28 or ice discharge port 20 so as to stay there and is transferred together with the ice blocks when the compressed ice moves through the ice discharge passage 28 and drops from the opening 20b of the ice discharge port 20 into the ice storage chamber 26.
Consequently, if the compressed ice is stored within the ice storage chamber 26 for a long period of time, the water clinging to the ice or the water which has dripped from the ice discharge port 20 will again freeze, resulting in so-called arching or bridging, that is, adjacent ice blocks are combined or fused together with one another. Still further, if the bonding force of the fused ice blocks which has occurred within the ice storage chamber 26 is strong, excessive load can be applied to the agitator which agitates the ice or the ice conveying means which carries the ice out of the ice storage chamber 26 or the like so as to shorten the life of the components, leading to breakdown of the machine. Additional problems also occur when the ice is to be discharged from the ice storage chamber 26 in that the compressed ice can neither be discharged out of the ice storage chamber 26 due to the above-mentioned arching, nor can compressed ice of uniform size be reliably supplied in constant amounts.